By Rebecca Murzin
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7 (ESV)
We are told in James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” But how is this done? How are we to resist the devil? Just ignore him?
As a mom I would often say “ Naomi, just ignore him” when her brother would bother her. I knew that handling problems with violence, the way my family grew up doing, was not the answer. Naomi would get frustrated and storm off. Why? Because it did not work. Ignoring is not the answer. It did not work for my kids and it has never worked for me, even though for years I thought it did. Stuffing a problem away and ignoring it never helped my problems, it only prolonged them.
The definition of resist is: “1. try to prevent by action or argument. 2. struggle or fight back when pressured or attacked.” Nowhere in this definition do I see ignore. Resisting the devil takes action on our part, arguing, struggling, and fighting back! Now, I still was right in not fighting back as my family had, with violence and a physical altercation. We should be fighting the devil as Jesus showed us when He was tempted by Satan in Matthew chapter 4.
Jesus never ignored the devil, He did not punch him or throw rocks at him. He fought back against the devil, when He was pressured to sin, by quoting the word of God. This is how the battle was won. Jesus won because, “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12.
The devil did just as James tells us he will. The devil fled from Jesus as He resisted. He will also flee as we resist. Don’t sit back and let the devil bombard you. Don’t ignore him, resist him. Fight back as the enemy creeps in. Fight back as he tells you lies. Fight back as he tries to lure you in with the pride of life, the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eyes. Use the most powerful weapon ever formed, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God! (Ephesians 6:17)
I encourage you today to sharpen your swords so that you will be able to fight back against the enemy as you resist him and watch him flee. Spend time with Jesus in His word and watch as that sword you hold changes your life forever as you put it into action. Then stand in victory as the enemy flees.
